The New 4D
by Not-A-Mer-Gentleman
Summary: So much weird stuff happens in our beloved 4D... taking place after the Season 2 finale, this story explores a new loft dynamic with Nick and Jess as a couple, the return of Coach and the highs and lows that come with being roommates and roomfriends.
1. Chapter 1

This is my take on things to come in Season 3. It all takes place after the Season 2 finale. I've never written a fanfic in my life but I'm obsessed with New Girl and love so many of the fanfics on here that I was inspired to try writing my own... comments are welcome. Also, I see a lot of people putting the, "I don't own New Girl," disclaimer before their fanfics begin so I'm gonna go ahead and do that too because I don't own New Girl either, I'm just a fan looking to kill some time until the new season starts. And I ship Nick and Jess hard... hope you don't hate my stuff:

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Alright man, I'll see ya later." Nick says, snapping his phone shut as he enters the kitchen where Schmidt and Jess are sipping their morning coffee and tea. Casually, he steps behind Jess, placing a hand on her hip and kissing her neck as she blushes, her cheeks matching the delicate pink of her robe.

"Good morning Nicholas," she says sweetly, tilting her head toward him. "Are you hungry? There's fruit salad and I made some extra egg whites."

"Bleh, pass." he said scrunching his nose slightly at the suggestion of something healthy. "I'm not the fruit and egg whites type but thanks anyway."

"I know but ya can't blame a girl for trying... there's a breakfast burrito already in the microwave for you and the powdered donuts you like are in the cabinet."

Nick smiled at her, "Ooh really? Nice! Thanks Jess."

"What can I say, I know what my guy likes..." Jess says locking eyes with Nick and the corners of his mouth curve up as he smiles at her adoringly.

"Get a room." Schmidt says, annoyed at the sight of even the slightest affection between the two. "How can you two flaunt happiness in front of me at a time like this... I'm a man on the edge!"

"Seriously man, come on!" Nick scolds him. "It's been 2 days since the wedding how have you not made up your mind? Better yet, how have Cece & Elizabeth not killed you yet for makin' them wait for an answer?"

"I dunno, must be a woman thing, a mystery like Stonehenge. I mean how'd those stones get there and why? Am I right?"

Nick and Jess just stare at him as he rambles.

"Oh boy, is it really that time already?" Schmidt says looking at his watchless wrist and suspiciously heading toward his room.

Immediately sensing that he was up to something Jess follows him, "What was that just now, what did you do!?"

Defensively Schmidt replies, "Nothing, I didn't do anything Jess, Nick help me out here man, call off your dog!"

"I've seen that look in her eyes before, you're on your own man," Nick said putting his hands up and backing away.

"Cece is my best friend Schmidt! Do not mess with me, what's going on?!" Jess said giving him a warning glare.

"Down Cujo, I told Cecelia that I want to be with her but I needed time to break the news to Elizabeth and I'm anxious about it."

"Oh," Jess said relieved. "Well that's not a bad thing, I think it's decent that you're worried about Elizabeth's feelings. Why were you acting so weird about it?"

"I wasn't...," Schmidt replied," "you just let your crazed female mind get carried away because you were looking out for your friend..."

"Ok, you're right, I'm sorry... well that's enough drama for this girl, I'd better get ready for work."

Nick smiles at Jess as she heads to shower and once she's out of earshot he turns to Schmidt, crossing his arms across his flannel and blocking the doorway, "Ok, now let's try the truth."

Schmidt looks up at his friend.

"That was the truth... I simply told one of my beautiful lady options that I wanted to be with her and only her but that I just needed time to let my other consort down gently."

Nick stared at him unconvinced, "Not buyin' it buddy, out with it already, what's the catch Schmidt?"

Immediately responding to Nick staring him down, "Ok! ...I may have let them each think the same thing."

Eyebrows raised in disbelief, Nick whispers, "You're telling me that you told Elizabeth you needed time because you were letting down Cece and you told Cece you needed to let Elizabeth down gently... and they each bought it? Damn it Schmidt, what were you thinking?"

"I panicked and went into self preservation mode, my people are known for it Nick, when will you Christians catch on?!"

Nick, knowing he couldn't keep a secret like this from Jess tries to reason with him, "Look man, I get it, you care about them... they're two great girls, but you can't keep 'em both... ya gotta figure it out and let one of them go."

Schmidt looks up defeated, "I know..."

Nick cuts him off, "and you gotta do it before Jess gets home from work today."

Schmidt's jaw drops, "Wait, what?"

Nick shakes his head, "I can't do this for you man, I can't lie to Jess. As much as I'd love to wear layers of absorbent clothing to hide my sweaty back for ya, it's Jess. I won't do it and you can't ask me to so man up ya idiot."

Schmidt nods in agreement as Nick walks out.

"By the way," Nick calls out to Schmidt, "Coach is in town, I'm heading out now to meet him at the park, so if you're around later maybe we can all grab a drink."


	2. Chapter 2

More to come, I hope you like it so far. I made some minor changes to Chapter 1... mostly formatting (Big thanks to the amazing MayaLala for the suggestion... I'm a big fan of your stories! Thanks for reading mine.)

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**Chapter 2**

"Let me get this straight," Nick asked sitting on a bench at the park with Coach "you were training a guy at the gym who turned out to be related to the new owner and he got you fired? Just like that?"

Coach tilted his head and winced as he began to admit, "I MAY have thought he was a woman... and I MAY have suggested that he-she work on his-her pecs or consider a boob job."

Nick's eyes bulged as he shook his head in horror and disapproval.

"I'm a trainer, I thought he was a woman. I was trying to motivate her... with the promise of a perkier C cup" Coach said matter-of-factly.

Nick played along, nodding while making his signature turtle face, "Hey I get it man, plastic surgery's expensive... it'd motivate me!"

"Thanks man." Coach continued... "anyway that's why I'm back in L.A., I never had a problem finding work out here but none of the gyms I used to work at need another personal trainer right now and I can't exactly look for a new place until I know where I'll be working sooo..."

Nick sighed, "So you wanna know if you can crash at the loft til you're back on your feet?"

Coach nodded, raising his eyebrows while flashing an oversized smile in the hopes that Nick would be cool with it.

"Well listen, I don't have a problem with it... why don't you come by tonight and we'll run it past the guys & Jess."

Coach smiled, "You're the best thanks... hey speaking of Jess, how's it going with her." he chuckled to himself adding, What's been going on since I've been in San Francisco? You stickin' to that No Nail Oath thing Schmidt made us sign?"

Chuckling to himself Nick nodded, "Nope. No Sir I did not... definitely broke it."

Grinning ear to ear, "Yes! Ha! Good for you man! Oh wait," Coach added, confusion crossing his face, "Was she cool with it? I mean, she didn't move out right sooo... was it a one time thing or have you managed an in house no-strings-attached thing?"

Sighing Nick replied, "Well, let's see, the first time I kissed her, her Doctor boyfriend with a killer right hook, was sleepin' in the other room."

Shock crossed Coach's face as his jaw dropped. "What?! Man you really grew a pair..."

Nick nodded, smirking to himself. "What can I say, something came over me man."

Coach tilted his head in confusion, "So what? Did she slap you, run and tell him? Get you slugged?"

"Nah," Nick explained, "She told him the next day," he said nodding as if it were the obvious way it should've been handled, "THEN he slugged me..."

Coach chuckled, "Gotcha."

"Then he dumped her." Nick continued for the sake of getting Coach up to speed, "and I started sleeping with my boss til Jess got all hopped up on pain pills and accidentally admitted that she wanted me, so I broke things off to be with her..."

Coach looked confused. "Wait, Jess likes to get high on pain pills?"

"...then my dad died & Jess dressed as Elvis for his funeral." Nick added, recapping the timeline of him and Jess to himself, ignoring the question and the lost look on Coach's face. "Then Teddy, the flower steeling fireman showed up," his voice getting gruff at the memory of Teddy, "and I panicked, stopped her from seeing him and we slept together..."

"I'm sorry, did you say fireman? Was there a fire in the building? Coach asked, eyes bulging with concern.

"No man, he was just some guy she was with ages ago who was trying his luck again..." Nick continued, "Anyway, long story short, I told her father I slept with her soooo he hates me but Jess still wants to stick it out and see if we work."

"Sounds like a mess." Coach said unsure if they were doomed or not.

Nodding, Nick replied, "Yeah... but oddly enough, it works." Shrugging with a soft smile on his face and a tiny glint in his eye he added, "We're a mess but we work."

Noticing the look on his friends face Coach responded, "Uh oh... I know that face."

Frowning, Nick turned to him and asked, "What face? What're you talkin' about man?"

A knowing grin crossed Coach's face as he pointed at Nick, "That's the smitten face... I saw it when you first got with Caroline."

Shaking his head while frowning and looking down pensively, Nick objected to the assumption, "You don't know what you're talking about, I do not have a smitten face. What does that even mean?"

Chuckling at the blatant denial, Coach shrugged, "Ok, ok, whatever you say Nick... but I think it's pretty clear... you've got it bad."

Nick squinted, staring pain faced at his friend. "Is it that obvious?"

Taking a deep breath, Coach replied while placing a reassuring hand on Nicks shoulder, "I may not know a man with C cup breasts from a woman," Nick smiled, "but I know when one of my friends is in love... and you Nick Miller are head over heels."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Even after their friendly game of one on one at the park and grabbing a burger at Coach's favorite spot, Nick was still troubled by what his friend had said to him earlier. Coach had been so sure, so quickly about Nick's feelings for Jess. Like it was written on his face. This was bad, Nick thought. After all, if Coach could tell so easily, it was only a matter of time before Schmidt and Winston called him on it. And they'd probably do it right within earshot of Jess and scare her off once and for all. He had to think of something and quick. He had to find a way to break it to Jess without freaking her out. They had only just decided not to give up on figuring out what was going on between them a few days ago. How was he suppose to tell her he was in love with her and expect it to end well? Paul had dropped the _L word_ too soon and she couldn't say it back and it ended them. Granted, Nick wasn't Paul. He would wait until Jess loved him back. IF she could love him back. His heart sank a little at the thought of her possible rejection.

"Hey man, why so quiet?" Coach asked after watching the spaced out, wide eyed look on Nick's face.

"Who me? Nothin'..." Nick replied unconvincingly.

Coach gave him a clear _I'm not buying it_ face.

Scratching the back of his head and sighing deeply, Nick decided to come clean. "Ok... it's just... the way you new about my feelings for Jess before is freaking me out man! What if I blurt it out at the wrong time and catch her off guard. I don't wanna blow this."

Coach raised his eyebrows and nodded in acknowledgement of his friend's dilemma. "Maybe you should just tell her... I mean, chicks are supposed to love that stuff right?"

"That's just it," Nick replied, "I don't know if I can."

Coach looked at him like he had three heads. "Uhh, you just say..."

Nick cut him off "No literally... I literally don't know how to do it. I tense up. Caroline said I didn't know how to _express_ myself... I think she was right man."

"Well you can go the chick route and get a self-help book," Coach joked.

"That's really funny man!" Nick laughed and swallowed hard, playing it off as if he'd found the suggestion just as ridiculous as Coach had, but secretly made up his mind to stop at a book store or the library on the way home.

Coach looked at the time, "Hey listen I wanna pick up some stuff to bring by tonight, I'll see you later ok?"

"Alright man, sounds good." Nick replied, fully planning to take advantage of this window of opportunity so he could find a book with tips on how to talk about his feelings.

* * *

Not willing to risk being caught with the book he'd just bought, Nick hid it under his shirt, out of sight and walked into the loft looking around to see if anyone was home. When he didn't see anyone, he made a mad dash to his room, to place it under his mattress where nobody would find it.

"Nick!?" Jess called out having thought she heard the door. "Is that you?"

He tucked the book away in a panic, walked straight to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water shouting back, "Yeah, it's me Jess I just got in!"

Jess walked out of her room and over to where he'd seated himself on the couch. She was adorable as ever in a navy blue dress with tiny lavender polka dots on it. "Hey you," she said sweetly, "How was your man-date with Coach? Did he hold doors and order for you?" She changed into a 1930's gangster voice, "He didn't get handsy did he?" She smiled.

"With a fancy dame like me? Never." He replied playfully. "Actually, he's gonna swing by later. He needs a place to crash for a while til he finds a new job. Would you be ok with that?" He asked taking a swig of his water.

She shrugged, not minding at all. "I'd love if he stayed here." She said with her usual perky enthusiasm. "He left so soon after I moved in, it'll be nice to get to know him a little better."

Nick nodded in agreement.

"What's his deal anyway?" Jess asked curiously. "I mean, I know he was Schmidt's trainer and helped him lose his weight..." she continued, "and I know he left for a job as a Fitness Director in San Francisco which is why we had the extra room for Winston but other than that I don't know much about him."

"Well," Nick began, "he grew up in L.A. with a real ladies man for a dad. He expected Coach to take after him, which woulda been fine except Coach was sorta skinny growing up and had glasses..."

"Aww," Jess responded sympathetically. "Our very own West Coast Steve Urkel."

Nick smiled, adding, "Only with a lisp."

"Wait, but Coach doesn't have a lisp." Jess said confusion crossing her face.

"That's the thing. He wanted to be smooth with girls but they were mean. They'd tell him if he didn't have glasses or a lisp he might have a chance. So he went to speech therapy, got contacts and worked out but he was never good enough for them."

"Nick that's terrible." Jess said frowning.

"Eh, he's alright, all that working out paid off and now he gets paid to yell at the type of girls that made his life hell." Nick smiled. "Poetic justice."

"Hey," Jess suggested happily, "maybe some of Cece's model friends are looking for a trainer... I'll ask her"

Nick nodded and smiled at her, "Sounds good, can't hurt to check."

She smiled back sweetly at him and the air around them changed in that subtle way it always did whenever they locked eyes.

"Hey Nick," Jess said, the tone in her voice softening.

He raised his eyebrows, curious to see what she was about to ask.

"How much time do we have before the guys and Coach get here?" She asked reaching for something inside her favorite heart shaped black purse.

"Probably 'bout an hour, why?" he replied curiously.

"Well I was worried about you," she said pulling something that looked like tubing out of her purse.

Nick squinted, tilting his head, wondering what she was up to. "What's in your hand Jess?"

"You were looking a little pale this morning Mr. Miller, so I picked this up on my way home today," she put the ear tips of the stethoscope in her ears and leaned toward him, noticing how he swallowed hard, his breath hitching as he watched her intently. And her voice dropped to a low raspy tone as she undid the top few buttons of his flannel and placed the chest piece just above his heart. She feigned a gasp, "It's worse than I thought Nicholas."

His voice was rough when he replied "Why's that Jessica?"

She gave him a devilish grin as she locked her piercing blue eyes on his, "Well you're pulse is racing... you should definitely lay down. Let me help you to bed."

With that she reached out and took him by the hand, guiding him to her bedroom, only glancing back briefly before suggesting ever so subtly, "We should probably get you out of those clothes first don't you think?"

"Yes, nurse Jessica" he said as though he were under some sort of hypnosis, "whatever you say nurse Jessica."

And she giggled, shutting the door behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Jess smiled, lifting her head from Nick's chest, his breathing had slowed and he'd grown quiet. She could see a sleepy peacefulness on his face as he laid there dozing off. She didn't want to disturb him but the guys would be there soon and she wanted to have a yummy snack ready for them, so she slowly got up.

Feeling her shift off of him and missing the warmth of her skin on his, Nick opened his eyes, his voice unable to hided his exhaustion, "Where're you going?"

"I just wanted to do something before the guys get here," she whispered, so as not to fully wake him. "Don't get up." She continued as she leaned back to kiss him briefly but with firm tenderness, lightly sucking his bottom lip as she pulled back and touched the scruff on his chin softly with her hand. "Take a little nap, I'll come get you when they're here." She pulled the sheet up a little further, tucking him in, then stood to dress herself.

Nick smiled dreamily at the curves of her milky skin and thought of the gesture... her covering him and wanting him to rest comfortably. Nobody had ever done those little things for him. He'd never expect them to, but there was a sweetness to Jess. She exuded warmth unlike anyone else. That was the thing about her, she had a way of making him feel, and it wasn't a feeling he was used to. It was different. It was as if she did things only for him, to make HIM happy... to see HIM smile... to make sure HE was ok. She just had this way about her that made him feel... important, but it wasn't that simple. She made him feel like he was important to HER. She made him feel... loved. It was with this thought that he sleepily mumbled to her, "thanks honey," and drifted off.

* * *

Closing her bedroom door softly, Jess made her way to the kitchen to figure out what she could make with whatever food they had in the apartment. If she'd only known that Coach was coming over, she would've baked something. Like red velvet cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting, or made some real guy-food, manly food like sliders or sloppy joes. But all they had in the sweet's department since Nick polished off the powered donuts that morning, was a tub of ice-cream, 3 frozen waffles, a package of chewy chocolate chip cookies and Schmidt's peanut-butter-flavored/cardboard-textured protein bars. Ok, she thought to herself, maybe she could find something in the savory department since sweet wasn't looking too promising. Boy they really needed to go grocery shopping, there wasn't much in the refrigerator and as she looked down, she made a mental note to find out who slapped a post-it on the hummus that said,_ Warning: Gives Schmidt the toots!_

Rolling her eyes at the tiny yellow sticky note, she grabbed the milk, bacon, butter and cheese, pushed the refrigerator door shut with her foot and headed to the cabinet to look for some breadcrumbs and a box of cavatappi... or as Nick called it, "Corkscrew pasta." She smiled recalling how she'd replied by asking him in an Italian accent, while pursing all the fingers in her right hand together and gesturing emphatically, "maybe we-ah just call it-ah bartender pasta, cause you use-ah the corkscrews."

She loved the way he'd chuckled in response, unable to hold back that killer smile of his while asking, "Was that supposed to be Italian Jess?" then adding, "That-ah was terrible," and grinning at her.

She got to work quickly and when the pasta was cooked, well-drained and ready she added the melted cheese mix and decorated the top with bacon and breadcrumbs before placing it in the oven. She was almost done making homemade ice-cream sandwiches out of the chocolate chip cookies when Nick emerged from her room.

"Something smells amazing!" He announced as he walked behind her to open the oven door and peek at what Jess had been cooking. "Is that what I think it is?" He said hopefully and slid his hands around her waste and down onto her hips from behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder as he looked to see her scooping ice-cream onto a cookie and placing it down on the counter.

She smiled as she confirmed his suspicions, "I made macaroni and cheese with bacon and a breadcrumb topping... and these ice-cream sandwiches are for dessert." She licked some ice-cream off her thumb and turned around in his arms to press herself closer to him and breathe him in as they shared a deep kiss that had him tightening his grip on her and lifting her all at once so she was seated on the counter, legs wrapped around him when Schmidt walked in.

"Damn it you two! The kitchen island is not some fantasy locale for your hedonistic escapades," then he shouted to emphasize his outrage, "IT'S WHERE NOURISHMENT IS PREPARED! YOU SEX FIENDS!"

At this Nick just shook his head saying, "Ya gotta lighten up man." As he helped Jess down off the counter and they walked out of the kitchen with furrowed brows, each remembering full well that Schmidt and Cece admitted to having sex in every room in the loft when Jess confronted them about sneaking around.

And once they were out of sight, Schmidt opened the refrigerator door and spotting the post-it, he hastily snatched the container of hummus, and looking around him in a wave of pure paranoia. He then shredded the note, muttering to himself defiantly, "Well I'm eating it anyway."

Just as he snatched a bag of baby carrots from the crisper he heard Jess as she called out to him, "Hey Schmidt... I sure hope you're not heading for the hummus!" and as Nick chuckled Schmidt heard a familiar tune as Jess blasted the beginning of Donna Summer's song, _Bad Girls_, the lyrics beginning with the fantastically appropriate, _toot toot hey beep beep._

Eyebrows raised in embarrassment he stomped off to his room, complaining as he slammed the door, "Is there no respect in this loft for the garbanzo bean? They're a magical fruit!"


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the delay... life gets hectic on occasion. Thank you all for the kind reviews and support, especially MayaLala and Newgirl78.

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**Chapter 5**

By the time Jess's mac n' cheese was ready, Schmidt had done 400 crunches, a few dozen squats and was showered and ready to see Coach for the first time in 2 years. "He was my trainer guys," Schmidt said when Nick and Jess asked why he'd rushed to get a workout in before Coach arrived, "I can't let him think I've been neglecting his masterpiece in his absence... the man is an abs architect," Schmidt took off his shirt and waved his hand across his toned mid-section, "He's a mahogany skinned Frank Lloyd Wright and these abs are his Guggenheim Museum."

"Really Schmidt, the Guggenheim?" Nick said as if he couldn't understand the why the Guggenheim was Schmidt's example of choice.

"New York son." Schmidt said in a deep voice while pushing his elbows out like a street thug trying to intimidate someone.

Just then Winston arrived home from a follow up at his doctor's office to see how his badger bite from Cece's wedding was healing, "Hey guys, look who I found on my way up!" he said excitedly.

Coach emerged from behind Winston, "I leave for 2 years and you guys try feeding my friend to a badger? What's up with that!?" he said jokingly.

"You're here!" Jess said enthusiastically!

Coach smiled at her, "Yes ma'am, I'm baaaack! And I come bearing booze!" He smiled holding his haul up and kneeling as though it were an offering to the party gods. In his hands were a case of Nick's favorite Heisler beer and 2 bottles of Midori liqueur. He'd chosen the first bottle for Jess since it was fruity and he knew girls usually liked fruity drinks, then he grabbed another bottle because he remembered Schmidt loved the girly melon flavored crap.

"Nice! Thanks pal!" Nick said as he took the case of beer from Coach. "That fem stuff is all you Schmidty," Nick pushed his chin out, pointing it toward the Midori while shaking his head in disapproval and walking toward the refrigerator to set a few beers to cool.

"Welcome back to our hood dawg! What's good?" Schmidt said to Coach smiling and happy to see his friend.

Coach just closed his eyes and shook his head, fighting the urge to point wordlessly in the direction of the douchebag jar by the couch. Instead he just said, "Still the same old Schmidt huh?" he slapped him on the back and smiled while answering, "Not much is new with me man, just looking for some work so I can get settled. I didn't realize how much I missed L.A.!"

"Aww Coach, this is so sweet," Jess said, "I hope you're hungry because I made some bacon mac n' cheese and cookie ice-cream sandwiches in your honor," she smiled and curtsied like a polka-dot-dress-wearing princess.

At this, Coach walked over to the food, snatched a spoon full of cheesy-bacony goodness and upon tasting it, moaned in pleasure while simultaneously mumbling, "Have you tasted this? It's incredible. Marry this woman!" to Nick whose eyes bulged in Jess's direction, as if silently saying, _shut up man, she'll hear you!_

"This is awesome Jess, thank you." Coach said, while Jess was beaming over the fact that he'd liked it.

Smiling at how happy Jess looked at that moment, Nick had just reached out and placed his hand on the small of her back when he was distracted by a knock at the door. Opening it, he was surprised to find Elizabeth had shown up looking for Schmidt. Nick figured that Schmidt might not be expecting her but not knowing what else to do, he asked her inside and called out announcing that she was there.

Schmidt froze for a moment, not knowing what to expect from the unannounced visit but one look at her face calmed his nerves. Elizabeth was a fearless go-getter, it was one of the things he'd always loved about her... of course she would show up to talk things out with him. If he was honest with himself, he never really believed she'd just give him space.

"Hi guys," Elizabeth said, scanning the room, her eyes stopping on Coach, "Coach!" she said sounding surprised. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?"

Coach seemed equally surprised to see Elizabeth, "Ellie, hey!" he replied, happy to see her after so long. "I'm good," he said filling her in, "I just moved back to L.A. and swung by to see the guys and Jess."

Schmidt spoke up, "Listen man, Nick was telling us that you're staying at a hotel while you look for work and that's nuts. You're my Michelangelo man, you sculpted me, I'm like your David, but with way bigger junk." Everyone winced and scrunched their noses in disgust. Nick and Winston dropped their forks and pushed their plates away having lost their appetites instantaneously. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't look out for you? You have your choice of air mattress or the couch... and I've placed a freshly laundered towel in the bathroom for you. It's your favorite color, green."

Wincing slightly, Coach replied, "You're creepin' me out Schmidt, that's your wooing voice. You know I hate when you talk to me in the wooing voice. Stop that!" he said, pointing a finger as though Schmidt were a disobedient pet.

"It's true, the wooing voice has always freaked Coach out." Elizabeth whispered to Jess and Nick who nodded, understanding completely.

"Buuut... I'm not gonna lie," Coach continued, "I do miss your freshly laundered towels sooo... I'm in. Thanks guys."

Jess added, "Oh, and I talked to Cece, she's looking for a new personal trainer and said some of her model friends might be in the market too so here's her number," Jess handed him a piece of paper, "She said to call her tomorrow around 10 if you're free."

"Let me get this straight, Cece your hot model best friend wants ME to give HER a workout huh?" Coach said as he reached out snatching the number like it was a winning lotto ticket, "don't mind if I do!" he said wiggling his eyebrows.

Hearing this, Schmidt's eyes grew wide at the thought of Coach yelling at Cece to motivate her. He knew all too well how turned on Cece had been the first time Schmidt yelled at her during Jess's first Thanksgiving dinner at the loft, and he knew how irresistible Coach was to his clients. The idea of the two of them hooking up made the hairs on the back of Schmidt's neck stand up. He couldn't help the panicked look that crossed his face at that moment, the problem was that Elizabeth had noticed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Normally they wouldn't drink so much on a week night but Coach was back and everyone was in a good mood so they decided to throw caution to the wind, have a few drinks and catch up to celebrate his return. They considered playing a game of True American but decided against it. They hadn't played since the night Nick first kissed Jess and as soon as the game was mentioned the two of them locked eyes with each other, smiling in silent acknowledgment that it was that very game that led up to Nick kissing Jess for the first time, and that kiss was what got them to where they were now.

Schmidt had been more than willing to play a game since it would prolong whatever conversation he would be having later with Elizabeth but he was afraid of getting too wasted, what if he blurted out something he'd regret? He cared about Elizabeth, she was his first love, his first everything. She knew the real Schmidt, the better Schmidt, not just the seemingly confident, somewhat douchey version of himself that most people knew these days. But he couldn't lie, Cece admitting that she wanted to be with him was everything he'd wanted for the past year. He'd waited out Robbie, then Shivrang and he was even ready to accept that he'd lost her forever when she'd gotten engaged. And he was prepared to be her friend just to keep her in his life... but now _she_ wanted _him_ back. They could finally be together, except it wasn't that easy because he'd backslid to his ex and in doing so, opened a can of worms. He wasn't sorry that Elizabeth was back in his life at all though, he'd forgotten how amazing she was. She'd always made Schmidt feel really good about himself and he missed that. She liked him, wanted him and made him confident when nobody else in the world did and she was right, _he_ was the one who changed in the end, not her. She supported him when he wanted to get healthier and even introduced him to her friend Coach from high school because he was a personal trainer and with Coach's help, Schmidt's whole life changed. But he let his constant fear of what other people thought, drive them apart. He took her for granted until there was nothing left of the big guy she'd once loved. Yet somehow here she was, and they had the chance to start fresh but he couldn't get Cece out of his head and it was killing him. That's why he'd started hitting the Midori liqueur hard, which probably wasn't a good idea but it didn't stop him from taking a long swig straight from the bottle.

Winston was thankful that he'd gotten a few days off from the radio station thanks to Buckey biting him because it meant that he could hang with everyone without having to worry about his adjusted sleep schedule. He even suggested that Coach come on his show a couple times next week to give listeners workout tips in between commercial breaks. Granted an overnight show might not get Coach any new clients, but it'd be a cool addition to Winston's show and it was free advertisement for Coach so it was a win/win situation.

"We're gonna find you so much work Coach," Jess said, slightly tipsy from the shots she'd been doing with Nick, "you'll have plenty of those mean girls to yell at."

Nick froze swallowing hard and shot her a look.

"What do you mean "those mean girls" Jess?" Coach asked suspiciously.

Jess replied as if it were obvious, "You know, girls like the ones from high school who made fun of your lisp and wouldn't date you... those mean girls."

Coach looked shocked and turned to Schmidt, "Dude, you told her! We called Nerdy Guy Code on that! You were a fat nerd and I was a lispy nerd, I can't believe you told her. It's my secret shame man!"

Schmidt looked just as surprised, "I did nothing of the sort." Schmidt zeroed a dagger-like stare right at Nick, "NICHOLAS! How could you?! What else have you let this doe eyed seductress weasel out of you?"

"Wait, was that a secret?" Jess said, her blue eyes widening in confusion.

"Was it a secret? WAS IT A SECRET?!" Coach replied, appalled, "Of course it was, I was miserable in high school! It was the worst! The only girl who was nice to me was Ellie, she was my only friend! Do you think I want anyone knowing what a dork I was? Thith ith unbelievable!" Coach said, his lisp appearing out of nowhere. "Oh my god," he said clasping both hands over his mouth in horror, "You've brought it back! Ith back!"

"It's not back Coach," Elizabeth said, guiding him towards the bathroom, "it's just a stress lisp. You'll be fine in a minute. Let's go wash your face and calm down."

Coach followed Elizabeth's lead, leaving Nick bowing his head in shame and Jess feeling terrible while Schmidt and Winston just shook their heads at them in disapproval.

"This is exactly what Schmidt was afraid of guys." Winston said matter-of-factly. "He has a theory that lady parts contain a sort of truth serum and that sooner or later Nick would succumb and buy a one way ticket to... what did you call it Schmidt?"

"Her Nether-lands." Schmidt replied, his arms crossed and head shaking in disapproval.

"Yeah, what he said," Winston continued, "basically he thinks you're gonna spill our dirt to Jess in exchange for access to her stroopwafels."

Jess made a disgusted face, "My Nether-lands Schmidt? Are you serious?!"

Nick asked confused, "What's a stroopwafel?"

"It's a Dutch cookie, they're delicious." Schmidt replied, "And yes Jessica, I am." Turning then to glare at Nick, he said, "Let me know when you return to the United States of Bro-merica... until then you are shunned." Schmidt nodded to Winston and they walked away slowly for dramatic effect.

"Shunned?" Nick said frowning at the pure ridiculousness of his friends reactions. "What is that?" Nick asked.

"Shunnnnned." Schmidt and Winston said in unison, their voices fading like they were imitating ghosts.

Nick turned to Jess, "Our friends are so weird." he said.

She nodded in agreement. "But since you're shunned and have nothing better to do, you should take advantage of this free time... take a trip, get away."

"Good point. Hmm where to?" He said smiling mischievously.

She tilted her head, and put her index finger to her mouth as though she were in deep thought, "Well," she said playfully. "I hear the Nether-lands are lovely this time of year."

"You don't say." Nick replied, "Guess it's a good thing I have a one-way ticket there," he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a deep kiss.

"Well Hallo Nicholas," Jess replied in a Dutch accent.

Laughing Nick took Jess's hand and pulling her toward his bedroom, "I'm surrounded by weirdoes."

"Did you just call me a weirdo?" Jess feigned offense.

"If the lederhosen fit." Nick replied playfully shutting his door behind them.

"Shunnned." Jess said in a drawn out ghostly voice. "Shunnnnned."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Elizabeth knelt on the bathroom floor with Coach, rubbing his temples. "Hey, what's really bothering you? It can't _just _be the fact that Jess found out that you weren't Don Juan in high school. Talk to me."

Coach looked up at her, sighing in defeat. "I know... you're right. It's just, I'm not used to this. Coming back to L.A. is great because I missed it here but... I guess the way it happened, losing my job and now needing to crash with the guys. It feels a little like I'm tucking tail. Like I failed. I feel like a loser again... I think Jess just reminded me how much of a loser I was and I freaked out."

"Makes sense," Elizabeth agreed, "but don't be so hard on yourself." She took a deep breath and exhaled in a huff, "ok so it's confession time. You know how we were inseparable in high school?" he nodded and she continued, "well it was largely due to the fact that I was totally in love with you back then."

Coach's eyebrows shot up in shock. "Whaaat? No you weren't."

"It's totally true. Did you forget my Steve Urkel obsession?" she asked.

"That's right! You were nuts about him... you even had posters all over your room and inside your locker." Coach recalled.

She nodded, "Yes, yes I did. I had it bad... but you were always so busy pining for the skinny pretty girls, I figured I never had a shot. I liked being around you though, so I just accepted that you only saw me as a friend. But I never thought you needed to change... you were never a _lispy nerd _to me, you were just Coach." She smiled at him.

Coach swallowed hard, Ellie was the only girl growing up that he never questioned. If she said something she meant it. She was anything but fake. It was one of the things that made him like her so much. And here she was confessing that she'd had this secret crush on him years ago... "I wish you'd told me then. I might have thtayed thexy for you." he lisped for her and they both laughed.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you weren't a loser than and you aren't one now. Don't let this setback get to you too much. We'll all look out for you. You'll get back on your feet in no time." She slapped him on the knee, "so man up! Worst case scenario, I'll pay you help me clean rooms between exams."

He wrinkled his nose at the thought, Elizabeth was an amazing vet and he appreciated the gesture but if he didn't have to clean up dog poo for a living, he'd rather not. Still he felt really glad that she'd shown up tonight... nobody put him at ease the way she did. He missed that. "You promise?" he said with a smirk on his face, "because you can't just wave a _dream_ job like mopping up dog pee, in my face and then take it away! A MAN CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH!" he threw his forearm over his forehead like a damsel in distress while she laughed.

"Ok my little drama queen, get up!" she said getting to her feet and turning to help lift him off the floor, "I gotta go talk to Schmidt... he thinks I buy this B.S. about him needing time to let Cece down." they exchanged a knowing look. "When you and I know full well..." she added, "he's avoiding us both."

Coach nodded, "Sounds like Schmidt." He sighed audibly, "How do you do that Ellie, how do you just get us? You always know exactly what we're thinking... exactly what to say."

She smiled at him with that hint of vulnerability that was always behind her eyes, "You're my guys... It's my job to know you better than you know yourselves."

"He might not deserve you." Coach said in a slightly more serious tone than he normally used.

"That's what I came to figure out tonight... wish me luck nerd." she elbowed him.

"That wath uncalled for." he said jokingly as he headed to the couch to crash and she walked into Schmidt's room and closed the door behind her.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you for taking the time to read and review everyone, I really appreciate it! :)

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Coach helped himself to a little more of Jess's cooking and sat on the couch. He really wasn't mad that she knew all that stuff about him and he was pretty sure she felt bad for upsetting him so he planned on apologizing when he saw her in the morning. He couldn't help noticing how she was with Nick earlier, the way she looked at him when she thought nobody else was paying attention, the way she leaned into him when he placed his hand on her back. Good for Nick, he thought, Caroline played too many games, even from the beginning... and Jess was sweeter, better for him and boy she could cook! Yeah, Nick was a lucky guy, it was pretty clear they were crazy about each other. And judging by the giggles he heard coming from Nick's room when he walked back from the bathroom, he was fairly confident that Nick made her as happy as she made him. All that aside, he didn't want to hear them any more so he put the T.V. on trying to block them out.

* * *

Elizabeth sat down next to Schmidt on the bed, neither of them looking at each other, "Hey," she said, attempting to start the conversation neither of them was looking forward to, "are you hiding from me in here?"

He looked down at his hands, "Maybe." he said, then looked up at her, "No. Not really."

"I know this all sucks but you had to know I wasn't gonna let you procrastinate much longer," she raised her eyebrows and smirked, "and you know I don't believe for a second that you needed time to let _her_ down easy right?"

Schmidt turned to her, the expression on his face was a little surprised but mostly just miserable. "I hate this."

"I know." she said... a little sympathetic, "it's not fair."

"I shouldn't have to choose between two people I love." he said.

"That's not what this is Schmidt," she replied shrugging "don't you get it? It's not about choosing between us...," she sighed deeply, "it's about figuring out which one of us you love because we're important to you, and which one you're actually in love with."

His eyes grew wider as realization sunk in. She was right. But then again, Elizabeth was usually right, she had this ability to get right to the heart of things effortlessly.

She continued, "Let's be honest here. Did you look me up because you needed ME, or because you needed someone who mattered to you so you could make your ex-girlfriend jealous?"

Schmidt responded almost immediately, "Look I know my reasons were terrible but once I saw you... once I was around you again, it really hit me... how much I missed having you in my life. You were my best friend and my first love. I'm a better person when I'm with you, I don't want to lose you again. I can't."

"That's not fair Schmidt and you know it. This can't all be about you. I make _you_ a better person?" She said, a little annoyance showing in her voice, "What about what you're turning _me_ into? I was good before you came back around. I was happy. Work was going well... but the past 2 days I've been this pathetic girl, doubting myself. Comparing myself to this person I can't ever be."

"I don't compare you to Cece!" Schmidt said surprised and desperate to make that point clear to her. "You're nothing like her."

She scoffed and muttered, "Yeah, I'm pale and I'm not a model..." realizing what she'd just said, she squinted and huffed in anger, "THIS IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM!" She raised her voice and stood up, turning to face him. "THIS isn't me! This insecure person who spends two whole days hating things about herself she can't control, IS NOT ME! I like myself Schmidt, I'm not a size 2 and I don't have perfect hair, or tan skin and giant boobs but _I'm_ fine with that!"

"So am I!" Schmidt said in his defense. "I love your boobs. I named them remember? Mary Kate & Ashley?"

She laughed a little, shaking her head at him.

"And I don't want some defeated version of you Elizabeth, I like that you don't care what people think." he added.

"That's the problem... YOU'RE not _people_ Schmidt. What _you _think of me matters. If I'm going to be with you... If I'm gonna be with anyone, they're suppose to want ME. And they shouldn't need a few days to make sure _I _am what they want. They should just know... YOU should just have known. And you didn't."

"I know that I don't wanna lose you." Schmidt said desperately, taking her hand in his.

She pulled away, "Well that's not enough of a reason to keep me."

He looked at her in that moment. "So you hate me now?" he asked, his brow furrowing.

She sighed, "No." she said tilting her head a little, "And honestly, I don't blame you either. I knew you weren't totally over her when we started up again. And you couldn't know she'd call off her wedding for you."

He whispered, "It's true, I was 72% sure that wasn't gonna happen."

She chuckled, "Look, I think... you and I are comfortable because we were each other's first loves. Maybe we were trying to recapture that but that doesn't always work." She said, "I missed having you in my life too ya know... well, the nice you, not the mean jerky version of you that hates carbs." she muttered.

"Can we try to get passed this? Maybe be friends?" He asked hoping she wouldn't just disappear from his life again.

She tilted her head looking annoyed and then rolled her eyes at him, "Fiiine..." she said with a half smirk, "you're such a girl Schmidt."

He smiled, a little relieved that while they were ending things, this time she wasn't going to disappear from his life.

"Gimme your house key." She said putting her hand out palm up.

Frowning, he asked, "Uhh, why?"

"It's been a long night," she replied, "I'm gonna go out with Coach and get wasted, he's gonna need the key to get back in."

Schmidt handed her the key, "I'm glad we're gonna be friends but it's weird."

"Meh, normal is overrated Schmidt," she closed her hand around his key, "don't wait up!" she said as she walked out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Jess never could go to bed without brushing her teeth, so even though she and Nick had dozed off and she didn't want to leave his side, she maneuvered herself to the edge of the bed very slowly so she wouldn't disturb him, and she crept off to the bathroom.

Nick woke reaching groggily for Jess with his eyes closed but when he stretched out his arm and felt nothing, he opened his eyes and sighed. She probably went back to her bed and he wasn't happy about that, he wanted her with him. The thought of her feeling like she shouldn't make a habit of sleeping next to him just yet broke his heart but he could understand it. They hadn't defined anything and even though they were acting very much like a couple... even though Jess had absolutely thrilled him by making it wonderfully clear that she wanted to see what happened next between them, because she wasn't ready to give up on him... _he_ still hadn't made it clear just how badly he wanted _her._ And he did, he desperately wanted them to be a real couple... with no more uncertainty, no more vagueness. But he knew the conversation wasn't something he should bring up in the middle of the night so he rolled over and tried to put it out of his head. Just then he heard his doorknob turn and shortly after, he felt her crawl back into bed. At that moment, he couldn't help but smile. He rolled back over toward her and stretched his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him while lifting his chin up to kiss her neck... and it was just like that, with the feel of her soft hands touching his as he laced their fingers together, that Nick fell asleep, breathing in the sweet smell of her that was now mixed with the minty scent on her lips.

* * *

That afternoon, Jess decided to surprise Nick on her lunch hour. She put on some pink lipgloss, smoothed her red sundress and walked into the bar. She noticed from the doorway the plaid flannel shirt he was wearing and it made her smile. It was the same shirt she'd put on the night before when she went to brush her teeth. He always seemed to like seeing her in his shirts... he'd say she made them smell like her and now he was wearing the last one she'd worn. The idea that he might have worn it to work because he'd wanted to smell her while they were apart made her heart skip a beat. As she got closer she noticed that he was talking to someone on his cell phone. He hadn't seen her come in since he'd been leaning on the bar with his back to her and she didn't want to interrupt him so she approached slowly and as she did, she couldn't help but overhear some of his conversation.

"Yeah Ma, I know it was dumb and I never should've crossed the line because I have to see her every day." Jess stopped walking towards him, frozen as he continued "It's my fault that everything is complicated now but I have no choice but to deal with her... hopefully she'll meet someone soon and he'll distract her long enough that things between us can just get friendly again."

Just then a man at the end of the bar signaled Nick for a refill. "Look I gotta run Ma, a customer's calling me. I'll call ya later. I love you too, bye."

Before Nick turned enough to notice Jess was there, she'd turned back and stepped outside. She felt sick to her stomach. This whole time she'd felt like things between her and Nick were getting better and better but clearly it was all in her head. She'd done it again, fallen hard for someone who didn't want her. He wanted out... wanted her to meet someone new so she could stop clinging to him... so he could get out of having to let her down easy. She'd have marched back in there and called him a coward if she hadn't been so blindsided and hurt. Suddenly she recalled the Christmas party where she and Paul had broken up... she remembered telling Nick that she was always the one who loved more. It made her eyes sting and fill with tears to know in that moment just how she felt about Nick. She'd been struggling for weeks to put a name to the feeling she got whenever she saw him or thought about him. She'd known they had passion, that much was undeniable but, it was the tenderness that really threw her off. He was so sweet to her, sleeping with her these past few nights. Last night he'd even rolled over in his sleep, laced their fingers together and pulled her close. It was so perfect that her heart ached just thinking about it. It was like the ache that she felt when Spencer had crushed her... but this was worse because she'd spent years trying to figure out Spencer, and she never had but she was so sure this was different. She really believed that she knew Nick. She was so sure that they got each other... that they'd just connected in this amazing and effortless way. It wasn't fair to toy with her like that if he didn't want more than sex. It felt cruel. How could he do that to her? Before anything had happened between them they were really close friends... she trusted him. Maybe she really was as gullible and naive as he'd always said she was. All she knew for sure was that she needed to end this before he broke her heart any more than he already had. Tonight was the night, she'd get her things out of his room and start to pull away. He'd probably get home before her since she had a meeting with her new Principal after work but once she got back to the loft, she'd get her stuff. There wasn't much to claim, just her favorite tea mug, slippers, a new book of knitting patterns she'd brought into his room to ask his opinion on which type of scarf or throw blanket she should make as her next project... oh yeah, and her dignity. She was determined to leave with that. So with a deep breath, Jess parked her car back at school, wiped her tear stained cheeks and took a deep breath preparing to get back to work but unable to stop thinking of Nick.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Nick arrived at the loft after a pretty uneventful shift at the bar. He'd made up his mind last night that he would talk to Jess today and he was determined to do just that. And since nobody wouldn't be home for at least another 45 minutes, he pulled out the self-help book he'd bought and started skimming it for tips on how to talk to Jess without calling her_ Dirty J_, or referring to her as his _toilet sister._ By the time he'd gotten to the second chapter, he'd decided that the book was total crap... a completely useless waste of money. He was back to square one. "Well", he said aloud to himself, "I guess I'd better just suck it up and be confident and tell her." He swallowed hard. "Yeah, it's gonna be a long night." He said as he placed the book back where nobody would find it.

* * *

When Jess arrived, Nick could tell she'd had a rough day, she went straight to her room, not even saying hello to him and she'd shut the door. When she emerged a few minutes later, she'd headed straight across the hall to his room so he called out to her, "Hey Jess I'm over here... you ok? Ya have a bad day or something?"

She yelled her reply a little to enthusiastically, "Not at all Nick, I'm great thank you for asking."

He replied frowning and raising his eyebrows at the same time, "Okayyy, well, if you're not busy, I thought we could watch a movie. I know you'd mentioned that you hasn't seen _The Princess Bride_ in forever so I pulled out the DVD."

She couldn't believe him, why the charade? If he wanted nothing to do with her, why was he pretending that he wanted to watch one of her favorite movies? "That's ok Nick, I doubt you actually want to watch that."

He walked over to find her in his room, crouched on the side of his bed looking for something. "What're you doing Jess?" He asked suspiciously.

"I'm looking for my other slipper and the knitting book I left in here the other night," she sat up on her knees, exasperated, "god Nick, how do you find anything in here?" she asked.

Before he could help her look, she spotted something and reaching under the bed, pulled out a book, but it wasn't her knitting book, it was the stupid self-help book he'd hidden under there.

"What's this Nick?" Jess asked looking up at him. "Why do you have a book that promises to help the manliest man express his emotions?" She looked at the cover, a disgusted look crossing her face. "It actually has the tag-line, _Dirty Harry says read this punk! _and _Chuck Norris expressed himself with roundhouse kicks, but you're not Chuck Norris so you should read this book. _ I mean seriously, did you actually buy this?_"_

Nick panicked, replying, "Who me? I would never. I've never seen that before, it's probably Schmidt's, maybe he got it for tips on how to deal with Cece and Elizabeth."

"Oh," Jess said unconvinced, "is that right? Well then you'll have no problem... turning around." Seeing the back of his shirt saturated at the small of his back, she gasped. "You're lying! Why would you lie? What is this Nick? What is so hard for you to talk about that you would actually stoop to reading tips from a self-help book?"

Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly and looking back at her, "I'm sorry Jess. It is my book. I was trying to find a way to talk to you. I'm just so bad at it... _that's_ why I bought that useless book. I really don't think Chuck Norris wants people to read it Jess, it's terrible." he said as if it weren't blatantly obvious.

"Ya think?" Jess replied annoyed. "Am I seriously so hard to talk to Nick?" She asked, trying her best not to let him see the color drain from her face.

"Jess I just don't wanna mess up or say the wrong thing." He tried to explain but she cut him off.

"I get it Nick, I begged you not to give up on us at Cece's wedding and you didn't have the heart to let me down so you've been going with the motions and you needed help to break it to me..." she looked away from him.

He froze in horror. How could she think that? Had he really been so hard to read? Nick stared at her stunned... he couldn't breath, it was like she'd punched him. Knocked the air right out of him.

"Look it's fine Nick, I just... I just wish you hadn't been a coward about it. Letting me carry on these past few days like some pathetic..." she stopped herself. She didn't want to say something she'd regret or risk totally destroying what might be left of their friendship, but she couldn't help herself. She had to ask, "I thought I mattered enough to you to deserve the truth but you'd rather just sleep with me until what... some other guy came along to take me off your hands?"

"What?" Nick asked with a baffled expression on his face. "Where is all this coming from?"

"Don't," Jess asked closing her eyes as though she couldn't bear to hear another word from him. "I heard you Nick." She looked up at him, "I came to the bar to see you this afternoon... I thought it would be a nice surprise but _I_ was the one who got the surprise. I know you regret crossing the line with me. I heard you talking to your mom."

His brows rose as he realized what she'd overhead and he tried to explain, "Jess I know what you heard but..." she turned her head, refusing to let him finish.

The painful silence between them at that moment was broken as her phone began ringing in her bedroom.

"You don't have to _"deal with" _me anymore Nick." she said.

The last thing Nick saw as he backed up in a daze and sat on his bed in pure shock was Jess's eyes filling with tears as she walked across the hall away from him, and closed her door behind her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Jess leaned back on her door, allowing sadness to sweep over her... the only reason she hadn't completely started sobbing was because she didn't recognize the number on her caller ID and didn't want to be in hysterics when she answered.

"Hello." Jess asked as she picked up the call. Sniffling and taking a deep breath.

"Hi, is this Jessica?" the voice on the other end asked.

Vaguely recognizing the voice but unable to place it, Jess replied, "Umm, yes it is. Who's this?"

"Oh hi! It's Bonnie Miller, Nick's mom. How are you?"

Jess couldn't believe it, of all times for his mother to call Jess. "Hi Bonnie, I'm ok, how're you? Is everything alright?"

Bonnie answered, "Everything's fine, I just... well I wanted to call because I spoke to Nicky earlier and I'm a little worried about him."

This was unreal Jess thought, was Bonnie actually calling to get her to leave Nick alone? Jess played along, "Why are you worried about Nick?"

"Well," she began, "you know Nicky, he's always so busy trying to take care of everyone that he doesn't take care of himself and with Shane having it out for him lately, I know he's been stressed."

This was news to Jess, Nick hadn't mentioned Shane since Jess showed up at the bar and found out he'd been sleeping with his new boss, weeks ago. Before he and Jess had slept together... and well before Cece's wedding. Hell he'd broken things off to be with Jess. "Oh god," Jess whispered as she realized what she'd actually overheard that afternoon. Nick wasn't complaining to his mother about _Jess_, he was complaining to his mother about _Shane_. She was his boss and she had it out for him ever since he'd dumped her for another woman. Jess's eyes grew wide as she replayed the conversation she and Nick had just had in her head. What had she done?! She'd called him a coward. Not let him explain himself when, for the first time, he'd actually tried to open up and talk to her, and then she'd broken things off and left him in stunned silence.

"Jess? Are you there? Hello?" Bonnie asked when Jess had grown quiet.

"I'm so sorry Bonnie, I'm here. Did I hear you right, is Shane giving Nick a hard time?" Jess replied.

"Well... yes, she's making him do a lot more grunt work around the bar and threatening to cut his hours. I just figured I'd let you know what was going on in case he's acting funny. I'm probably worrying about nothing," she chuckled, "I'm sure you know how happy he's been since you two became an item. He's probably too love drunk to care what Shane throws at him as long as he gets to go home to you."

"Love drunk?" Jess replied.

Bonnie didn't seem to have noticed Jess's response and continued talking, "Thank you for taking such good care of my Nicky, I worry a little less knowing he finally has a nice girl like you. Meeting you is the best thing that's happened to him in years." she added.

"That's very sweet of you to say Bonnie," Jess began but Bonnie cut her off.

"Well you're welcome Jess but I'm not the one who said that, Nicky said it himself when I talked to him a few days ago. I just happen to agree with him."

Jess swallowed hard and listened as Bonnie continued, "I may have been a little...," she paused, looking for the right words, "a little, _less_ than welcoming when you came out for Walt's funeral but I wasn't in my right mind. I certainly didn't think Nicky would pick his father's funeral as the perfect time to bring a girl home for the first time."

Jess was stunned... she had to clarify, "Wait, Nick's never brought a girl home before? But he was with Caroline for years."

"Pfft," Bonnie scoffed when she heard Caroline's name, "The girl never made him enough of a priority to bother meeting his parents. And when he tried to bring her to his brother's first wedding, she broke up with him to get out of it. You're so much better for him."

Jess smiled, "Do you really think so Bonnie?"

"Girlie, ya dressed up like Elvis to perform at my husband's funeral and never left Nicky's side because you wanted to make sure you were there if he needed you." She took a deep breath and continued. "I'm not blind Jess, I know you love my son. And yes, I think you're good together. Anyway, I'd better run. Take care of our boy."

Jess smiled, "I will...," she added, "hey Bonnie... thanks for calling."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Jess stood there clutching the phone to chest, so grateful that Bonnie had called when she did. She knew she needed to act fast, before Nick did something like leave the loft to get drunk or disappear for a few days to avoid her. Just as she smoothed her hair and wiped her face to head across the hall she heard the loft door slam. "Oh god," she said, sure that she was too late and Nick had left... then she heard a woman's voice.

"Hello?!," the panicked voice shouted, "guys? Is anyone home?" It was Elizabeth's voice.

Jess opened her door to see what was going on and paused momentarily when she saw Nick opening his door at the same time. Her stomach dropped when their eyes met and Nick looked away from her, his face pale and sad.

"Oh you're here! Awesome, listen Coach and I went out last night and had a few too many... anyway he sorta lost his balance and fell." Elizabeth said locking her fingers with an nervous look in her eyes.

"Is he alright?" Jess asked worried.

Nodding quickly to reassure them, Elizabeth replied, "Absolutely, he's fine... weeelllll, he's been better but he's gonna be fine. He uhh..." she hesitated, "he fell in an open sidewalk hatch down some steps in front of a store that was getting a late delivery and he broke his leg and bruised some ribs."

"What?!" Jess gasped in shock.

"Are you serious?" Nick's eyebrows rose instantly, "Where is he?" he asked.

Elizabeth replied, "He's at my place sleeping, I stopped here on my way to the pharmacy to get his prescriptions because I wanted to let you guys know what happened, I would've called but I lost my phone last night and I couldn't remember anyone's numbers. I went with him to the hospital, it was a clean break but it could take up to 12 weeks to heal fully."

"Oh my god! 3 months!?" Jess said with pity in her voice, "he _just_ got back in to town, he doesn't have a job or even insurance! How's he going to afford the medical bills?"

Elizabeth responded, "Well the store owner is terrified of getting sued so he's offered to take care of all the medical bills and well, let's just say you guys won't have to worry about paying for coffee or snacks for a while." she added.

Nick nodded, "Well that works... listen, tell him he can crash in my room, I'll take the couch for now."

Elizabeth joked as she turned to leave, "Or you and Jess can just shack up unless you're in the dog house." she couldn't have known that there was tension between them and she didn't see the look on their faces at her comment. "Well I'll be back a little later, I figured he could use the rest and I live closer to the hospital than you so I just took him straight to my place."

"Ok well thanks for letting us know what happened." Jess said, dazed at the thought of everything that had happened in one day.

"Yeah, thanks." Nick added as he closed the loft door behind Elizabeth.


	13. Chapter 13

Tiny correction to Chapter 12, thank you Ztofan, clearly no good can come from trying to write on 3 hours sleep :)

Thanks for reading everyone and for the reviews and motivation!

* * *

**Chapter 13**

When Nick turned around everything that had happened earlier with Jess came flooding back again and dropping his face, he began to walk past her back to his room.

Jess panicked and rushed to stop him, knowing she had to make things right between them, "I'm sorry."

Nick froze.

Jess continued, "before... everything I said it... it wasn't fair to unleash on you and not let you talk. I meant what I said at Cece's wedding, I don't want to give up on us. I just... can we try to talk?"

"Jess it's not," he began but changed his mind, "why would you want to be with me? You're the kind of girl a dream guy can't even keep and Russell was damn near perfect!"

She frowned in confusion, "What?"

"You're the girl an NFL star wants to marry like 10 minutes after meeting ya... and don't get me started on Genzlinger! That guy was like a human Care Bear and you didn't love him. I'm angry all the time, if this were Sesame Street, I'd be Oscar the grouch and you'd be Elmo... but like a girly Elmo with really awesome boobs..."

Jess cut him off, "Shut up Nick. You don't get to do this. You don't get to put me on some pedestal or act like you're not good enough for me. I didn't fall for Paul because sometimes... I dunno, sometimes feelings don't develop. And Russell was great but there was no spark! And don't throw Jax into this because he basically gets concussions for a living. Seriously, Winston told me last week that he'd proposed to some girl because she had a tattoo of Jamiroquai on her butt and he's always believed that, _"Sometimes there really is nothing left for you to do but dance."_ I mean really Nick?"

Nick pushed aside the thought that Angie had a Jamiroquai tattoo and shrugged simply, stating, "Sometimes the boogie _is_ for real Jess."

Frustrated, Jess shut her eyes and exhaled dramatically, "Look my point is none of them got me Nick. I can't spell out why you're different, you just are." She sighed. "I know you don't think so, but... whenever I've needed you, you've been there. For god's sake you were ready to take on a murderer for me Nick."

He nodded. "And I'd do it again."

"Granted, he turned out to just be a guy with a granny fetish but still!" she said firmly.

Nick scrunched his face at the thought of Edgar groping the elderly woman that Nick and Jess had assumed was his mother. "Bleh!" He shuddered.

Jess squinted and frowned, nodding in agreement. Then her face softened... "Nick I know Caroline hurt you and Julie and Angie took you for granted but I wouldn't." Her face looked pained.

Nick's eyes widened and he winced at the thought that Jess could ever think he'd put her in the same category of any other girl. "Jess, you're nothing like anyone I've ever..." he paused, at a loss for words. "Do you really think I compare you to them?"

She looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "I know you think I'm gonna bail on you because you don't have your life together... but I know you Nick. I don't expect you to be something you're not... I'm not Caroline or Julia." and then her voice cracked as she spoke just above a whisper and swallowed hard. This was it, she'd decided to just put it all on the line, "I would love you better than any of them. I would. If you'd let me."

Nick stood there stunned, his heart nearly beating out of his chest. Did Jess just say that she could see her self with him... not only happy with him, but _in love with him_?

Jess couldn't bear the silence, she felt stupid, so stupid. She always knew she could wind up being the one to care more and now she'd gone and confessed that she wanted him to open up... to say something, anything that would make it ok for her to love him and he hadn't even responded. She felt utterly crushed. Maybe she'd over analyzed what Bonnie had said and jumped the gun. Not only was she being rejected by the first guy she'd loved since Spencer, but unlike Spencer or anyone else she'd been with, Nick was her best friend. He knew her completely... and now she was going to lose him, she just knew it. She could feel the fresh tears forming, pooling in her eyes, about to spill out onto her cheeks. In an attempt to save face, she tried to act nonchalant about his silence, cleared her throat and feigned exhaustion.

"I'm sorry, I've had a long day... you don't need to say anything... I should go to bed. The kids have a big math lesson tomorrow. I'm going to be _Sir Cumference_... he solves problems with the help of his nephew, _Peri Meter,_ it should be fun... anyway... goodnight." She tried to smile as she walked past him toward her room.

As she began to walk away Nick felt a lump in his throat. She was leaving, he was an idiot and hadn't said anything and now he was going to lose her. He could feel a wave of nausea at the thought about it. His stomach dropped. He knew he had to just say it already. Get it over with. So he squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and balled his fists, bracing himself for her reaction to the confession he was about to make. "I'm in love with you."

She froze with her back to him.

"I'm sorry if I ever made you think that I wasn't sure. Or that I didn't know if I wanted you enough to really try... the truth is I can't remember ever wanting anyone this way and it scares me Jess. You're my best friend... what if I mess up and lose you? I _can't_ lose you. Not _you_... I need ya too much."

She turned and took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her, "Why are you so convinced that _you_ will be the one to mess up? Look at us, this whole thing today started because _I_ overheard something and assumed the worst. _I'm_ the one who messed up here, not you." she said

Taking her wrists in his hand, he pulled her hands down off his face, shaking his head, "No Jess, this _is_ my fault. If I'd talked to you sooner... if I'd just manned up and told you what you mean to me, you wouldn't ever have doubted what this was." Then he placed his hand on her waste, pulling her to him, grazing his thumb under the hem of her shirt, touching the bare skin of her waist so softly it almost tickled her, her skin burned and her breath caught and he continued, "it was _that_ Jess... your reaction every time I touched you..."

She couldn't breathe.

"I think I convinced myself that deep down you felt it. Like I didn't need to say the words because I could show you how I felt about you, make you feel it in every kiss. I was so wrong." he said swallowing hard.

"You weren't," she said, her voice raspy, her throat a little dry as she continued, "I did feel it... but I didn't want to be wrong, I was scared it could all be in my head because you know me Nick, I'm not a casual sex kind of girl." She sighed, "At first I assumed I meant more to you than some random hook-up but when you couldn't bring yourself to actually talk to me about it, I ignored the little voice in the back of my head that said, _this is Nick, he cares about you, he must really want you if he's willing to risk your friendship..._ and instead I let the fear that you were just giving into the chemistry between us creep in. I started to think maybe the appeal was that this was dangerous _because_ we're friends and _because_ we're roommates." She frowned at the thought.

When he saw the look in her eyes at that moment it really sunk in for the first time how none of this was a mistake. _They_ were not a mistake. He'd finally admitted that he loved her and she felt the same way... Jess loved _him_. And for the first time ever, he believed they had a chance, a real chance. So he held her cheek as he looked into her dark blue eyes, glassy from tears and as one tear poured over her cheek, he wiped it away with his thumb as he leaned in kissing her slower and deeper than he ever had, breathing her in, he pulled back and whispered, "I don't know how you do it."

She looked at him confusion crossing her face, "What do I do?"

"You just look at me sometimes and I swear it's like you feel the same way I do... it makes me feel... less broken. _You_ make me feel less broken Jess." He looked down.

She sniffled a little and smiled, "You do that for me too Nicholas..." she exhaled and closed her eyes for moment as she replied using the words his mother said he'd used when he'd talked to her about Jess, "meeting you is the best thing that's happened to me in years." then she laced their fingers together and lifted his hand to her lips, kissing it before placing their joined hands over her heart and adding, "loving you is the best thing I've done years."

Hearing her say that was too much, he couldn't help it, couldn't hold back as a single tear welled and escaped his eye. It was more than he could have hoped for to hear her say that to him. He was overcome with emotion, completely at a loss for words. All he could do at that moment was pull her chin up and kiss her. Then he could feel the smile forming on both their lips, because they were so happy to be back on track.

"So," she said, trying to lighten the intensity of the moment a little, "I hope you didn't just say all that so you could shack up with your roommate and avoid sleeping on the couch."

He smirked and shook his head with a playful frown, "Nah, I said it so I could shack up with my girlfriend."

"You scoundrel, all this time you've had a girlfriend and you never told me?" she said playfully.

He chuckled, "I have the _best_ girlfriend... she's a nurse."

"You don't say," she laughed in response, "well you're a lucky man to have someone to take care of you."

His stopped joking for a moment and replied, "I _am_ lucky, she's amazing. She loves me better than anyone ever has." And with that, Nick scooped Jess up in his arms just like he did the very first time they were together, and marched across the hall to carry her over the threshold of what was now _their_ room... at least for the next few months.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Elizabeth opened the door and tossed her keys and Schmidt's house key into the teal blue glass bowl on the table in her entryway and turned on the light as she closed the door behind her. She was trying not to make too much noise in case Coach was sleeping so she was quiet while she put the few snacks and soft drinks she'd bought him away in the kitchen and set up a small tray of things to bring him in bed. On the tray were his favorite raspberry iced tea, a chicken cutlet sandwich she knew he loved from the deli near the loft, a small bag of rosemary potato chips and a big cup of chocolate pudding with whipped cream for dessert.

As she walked into her room, she noticed that he was awake, propped up on her pillows and flipping the channels on her TV. "Hey, you're up!" She said, "I thought you might still be sleeping. How're you feeling?" She asked, "You hungry? I brought you something to eat." She walked over, set the tray over his lap within his reach and placed another pillow behind him.

"I've been up for about 20 minutes... there's nothing good on." He said with a little bit of pout on his face, tossing the remote control onto the bedside table.

Never able to stomach seeing Coach sad, Elizabeth tried to cheer him up. "Look, I brought you your favorites..." she said, her voice going up in a happy little melody while she pointed at the foods on the tray.

"Thanks Ellie," he said sounding defeated, "oh wow!" he said as he finally noticed the assortment of treats in front of him. "You weren't kidding! You thought of everything."

Smiling at the way his mood changed ever so slightly from gloomy to happy. "I wanted to cheer you up." She added, "And I stopped by the loft and told Nick & Jess what happened. Nick said you can have his room for now so you don't have to crash on the couch."

Shaking his head, "I still can't believe it. I feel like such an idiot."

"It was an accident... I'm just so glad you're ok!" Her face grew a little serious just remembering the moment that he'd fallen.

"I'm fine, really. Or at least I will be." he looked down at his cast. "Right now my ego is what's really bruised. I can't believe I fell like that in front of you."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked at him with her head slightly tilted. "Why would you _ever_ be embarrassed in front of me?" She asked incredulously, "It's _me_."

He smirked a little and reached for a piece of the sandwich in front of him, "I know... but look at me. I'm gonna need help doing all sorts of stuff for weeks. It just... sucks. I mean, I'm a guy ya know... I don't like feeling... needy."

"Yeah well, it won't be that bad. Besides that's what I'm here for. Haven't I always taken good care of you? Remember when you got the flu sophomore year of college, I changed your sheets, did your laundry, made you tea and soup and babied you for over a week." she said smiling at him as she recalled the many times he'd needed her over the years. Their eyes met for a moment that lingered just a little too long and she broke the gaze uncomfortably, "I mean, we'll just try to keep you entertained and before you know it, you'll be back on your feet!"

Coach was so confused, Ellie was right. This was hardly the first time he'd needed her, she'd always been his go-to person whenever he was sick or needed someone he could trust. She'd been there for just about every important thing in his life... she was even the one who decorated his first apartment, granted at the time they were 22 and he could've cared less about decorations, he was thrilled just to be on his own. He remembered how she'd surprised him by filling his refrigerator with beer too... and once she was done setting up his shabby little place it was different. Somehow it felt like home... _that's_ what she did for him, she made him feel like wherever he was, if _she_ was there, he was home. "Where was this coming from?" He thought to himself. It had to be this lousy day... everything that had happened in the past 24 hours had scrambled his brain. But he couldn't help but feel like this time something was different. Things between he and Ellie were just... different now.

"Ooh, that reminds me," she ran out of the room and raced back in with a DVD case in hand, "I have our favorite movie... figured it might cheer you up." She tossed the copy of Spaceballs on the bed and climbed up next to him.

"May the Schwartz be with you!" He said in a high pitch voice, quoting the movie with a big smirk on his face. "Thanks Ellie," he said, "you're right, if I need anyone to help take care of me, I'm glad it's you." He smiled because he wasn't just saying it. Whatever weirdness he was feeling at the moment, he_ was_ grateful to have Elizabeth by his side. Coming home to check on him... coming home for dinner with him... coming home to watch their favorite movie together. It made him happy thinking of Ellie being with him... coming home to him. Wait, what _was_ that? Why had he thought of it _that_ way? They weren't together like that. "Sleep." He thought, "I need sleep." But first he needed to eat the awesome meal she'd put together for him, take the pain killers she'd picked up for him... and watch the movie she'd put on for him. How was it that all these years had gone by and only now he was seeing just how great Ellie was. He'd always thought the world of her but now he felt like he was really seeing her. And it was with that thought swimming in his head that he looked over at her, propped up on some pillows next to him.

She noticed when he'd turned to her and smiled at him instinctually. "What?" she asked, wondering why he'd looked at her like that out of the blue.

"Oh nothing..." he paused trying not to give away that fact that what he was really thinking was how pretty she looked whenever she laughed. And now she was laughing because Princess Vespa's stunt double was a man in a dress, smoking a cigar. Ellie had the best sense of humor of any girl he'd ever known, she smiled and laughed easily... it was just another great thing about her. "I just thought I'd see if you wanted some pudding?" he asked.

"But I got it for you." She replied with a smile, "You love chocolate pudding, and since when do you share?" She chuckled a little and reached out to touch his forehead. "Are you feverish? Who are you and what have you done with my Coach?" She joked.

He smiled at her, liking the way she called him _her_ Coach, "Your Coach," he replied, "is just fine Ellie... he's just... just really glad to be here with you."

She swallowed, a little taken back by the tone of his voice, and the smile on her face changed as the mood became slightly more serious. "Well," she said, "I'm glad I'm here too."

He nodded and began to scoop a spoon full of pudding, "There's just one problem though..." he said stopping and raising his eyebrows at her.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I can't walk to the kitchen to get you your own spoon," he replied while knocking on his cast and continued, "so we're gonna have to share."

"Well," she began, "lucky for us I _can_ walk to the kitchen so I'll..."

He cut her off, "Just stay put and share it with me woman." He smirked.

She giggled at him calling her _woman_, "Okay okay... geez. Hand it over." she said extending her hand.

"Hey, why do you get the first spoonful?" He said placing the cup of pudding into her hand.

She giggled as she replied with a mouth full of pudding, "Women and mogs first, my dear... women and mogs first."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Somehow Schmidt had convinced Nick to go running with him in the park that morning and despite the heckling and lectures about how Nick needed to stretch and breath differently and buy sneakers with better arch support, they'd actually had a decent time. Sure Schmidt had tried to get Nick to wear spandex pants and neon sweatbands and Nick had slapped him to snap him out of it because _that _was never going to happen. But overall, Schmidt's weird requests and annoying comments weren't even phasing Nick lately. Things had been going really well for him and Jess and honestly it had him in a better mood nearly all of the time. It even got him through the nights at the bar when Shane was there barking orders at him. But nothing could have prepared him for what happened later that night.

* * *

Shane practically snarled at Nick when he'd shown up to cover Big Bob's shift. "Move those cases of syrup for the fountain drinks in the back room, they're blocking that crate of vitamin vodka you thought was a good idea to try." She rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I listened to you about that, nobody orders it. What a waste." She grabbed a box of red stirrers and a jar of green olives to fill the containers on top of the bar.

Nick, who had already been planning to move the syrups started to reply, "Ok, I was actually just gonna..."

She cut him off and stormed past him while bellowing down the hall, "Now Miller! That wasn't a request, it was an order!" she snapped and then added, "and I'm gonna need you to change all the garbage bags and mop the bathrooms too!"

He sighed, knowing things were nowhere near getting better between them but he didn't know what he could do to improve the situation so for the time being he decided to keep his mouth shut and just accept that for now at least, he was Shane's bitch.

"It's not gonna move itself!" She shouted, "Let's go!"

"I'm coming!" He replied, shaking his head as he marched down the hall to get the hand truck so he could reorganize the stock room to her liking. A little while later, after he'd mopped the bathrooms, changed the garbage bags, wiped down the tables and counters, sliced some lemons, limes and oranges to garnish the drinks he'd be making later, and hung the wine and martini glasses in the stemware rack overhead, he decided he should fill the peanut bowls on the bar. As he passed the ladies room on his way to the stock room, he swore he heard Shane sniffling behind the door. Normally, he might've knocked and asked if she was alright but he didn't want to risk her wrath so he decided to just do what she asked and steer clear. He grabbed the bag of peanuts and was almost done filling the last bowl on the bar when he heard a Shane stomping out of the ladies room.

"Miller!" He turned a little too quickly and spilled some nuts on the counter, then looked up and saw Shane. Her face was a little puffy, her nose pink and her eyes were glassy. It was clear that she'd been crying but it was also abundantly clear lately that she would not welcome any questions or small talk, hell _any_ conversation in general from Nick. So he fought the urge to do the decent thing and ask her if she was ok. Instead, he simply looked at her.

"Yeah Shane?" he asked, bracing himself for whatever nastiness she was bound to spew at him.

"You forgot to fill the paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms." She exhaled in an exasperated huff like she just couldn't bear to argue at the moment.

Seeing the defeated look on her face, Nick felt bad for her. Clearly something was wrong. He'd expected things to be off between them since he broke things off with her to be be with Jess so he made every effort to just do his job as best as he could and not provoke her. Hopefully she'd start getting over the shot to her ego and they would get along... but apparently even after a month, he was still her favorite punching bag.

"I'm on it, sorry." He said putting down the nuts and grabbing a fresh stack of paper hand towels. As he locked the side of the towel dispenser and wiped a little water off the counter around the sink in the woman's restroom, he noticed something in the garbage pail by the door. He could've sworn that he'd emptied every trash bin in the bar earlier so he walked over to see if he'd missed something and that's when he saw it. Partially wrapped in a wad of toilet paper was a little box with pink and blue writing on it. He knew this box, he'd recognized it from the isle at the drug store where he bought his condoms. It was a take home pregnancy test. "Who takes a pregnancy test at a bar?" he muttered to himself as he reached down to change the bag before Shane saw it and ripped his head off for missing a bin. That's when he noticed the wad of red gum stuck to the inside of the bin and he remembered that he'd definitely changed the bag in this bin before because he noticed the gum then too. And the only woman who'd been in the bar that day was Shane so the test must be hers. That must be why she'd been crying, she thought she was pregnant. "Wait a second", he whispered his thoughts aloud to himself... "if she wasn't pregnant, she wouldn't be crying... oh my god." Realizing it had barely been two months since he and Shane had slept together, Nick felt like he'd been kicked in the gut, "It's my baby." With that Nick flew out of the bathroom like a bat out of hell, furious that she hadn't told him what was going on, "Shane!" he called out to her, holding the box up for her to see. "Anything you wanna tell me?"

She froze seeing what was in his hand, her face growing pale. "Listen Nick, I can't talk about this right..."

Nick cut her off, "Just tell me. Are you..." he couldn't get the rest of his question out before she answered.

"Yes." She swallowed hard and took a deep breath, exhaling in a huff and looking at him like it was about to break her to say this out loud... "I'm pregnant Nick."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It had been about four hours since Shane broke the news to Nick about the baby and he honestly didn't know how to process everything without shutting down completely. The only person he'd told was Winston and he'd sworn him to secrecy. "I'm sorry to put you in this position man, cause I know you're friends with Jess too... but I don't know what to do here." Nick said, pacing back and forward in front of the concrete bench in the park where Winston sat in stunned silence. "I'm _so _happy with Jess..." he broke off, "I can't lose her now. She loves me man, I think we could be really good together... ughhh!" He groaned angrily, "Why did I have to sleep with Shane!? What was I thinking?!" He dropped himself on the bench next to Winston, staring up at the sky for a brief moment then closing his eyes and exhaling "And what are the chances that the friggin condom didn't work?" He turned to Winston with a look of pure agony on his face.

"Nick, I..." Winston's eyebrows went up as he shook his head in shock, still trying to process everything he'd just heard. "This is awful man, I'm so sorry." He tried to offer a glimmer of hope, "Listen, maybe the test was wrong ya know... what if it was a false positive? I mean, that's a thing right?" He put his hand on Nick's shoulder as Nick rested his elbows on his knees and held his face in his hands in pure misery.

"She told me she hasn't been drinking for a week... that she didn't want to risk it, cause she could _feel _something was just _off_. She said she took three tests man..." Nick looked down. "one every day for the past three days and they were all positive. " Winston's eyes went wide... this was really happening. Nick swallowed hard and turned to his oldest friend with eyes glistening with tears, "I finally got my dream girl and now I'm gonna lose her..." He squeezed eyes shut and rubbed the tears away with his thumb and index finger, "I get it universe," he said looking up at the sky, "you hate Nick Miller." He sniffled back hard and stood up abruptly, walking away from Winston.

"Hey Nick, where're you going man? Come back." Winston called after him but Nick just kept walking.

* * *

By the time Nick arrived back at the loft, it was pretty late. He'd walked aimlessly for hours just trying to clear his head but nothing helped. He was still as confused and lost as he'd been when he first found out the news. Walking into the living room he saw Jess asleep on the couch. She looked like an angel... creamy skin, ruby lips, dark hair framing her sweet face. She must've been waiting up for him. She was in a cute pair of pajama shorts and one of his t-shirts and if it was possible, he loved her more in that moment than he ever had. "One night," he whispered... "I'll tell her tomorrow, I just need one more night." Then, walking around the table, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to her bed, placed her under the covers and crawled in beside her. She stirred when he'd moved her, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hi honey," she whispered sleepily. "What time is it?"

"It's late Jess, don't wake up," he said stroking her back to sooth her back to sleep, "I just wanted to move you to the bed so you'd be comfortable." He said breathing in the sweet scent of her strawberry shampoo as she turned toward him, nuzzling into his neck.

"I missed you today," she said, placing her warm lips on his, then softly moving down, kissing his jaw, and the curve of his neck before whispering suggestively into his ear, "Are you too tired tonight?" She looked up at him, her blue eyes torturing him.

He tucked a wayward curl behind her ear and cupped her face in his hand, looking at her. He couldn't help but see the intense combination of love, passion and tenderness in her eyes. But this thing he had to tell her felt like it was ripping him in two.

Feeling him tense, Jess started to get worried. "Is everything alright?" She asked, curling her arm under his and sliding her soft hand up the sleeve of his shirt, caressing the soft skin over his tricep.

His face was very serious as he gently kissed her forehead and whispered, "I just..." he swallowed looking into her eyes and his voice cracked a little as he fought back his intense emotions, "I really love you Jessica." All he could do then was kiss her, it broke his heart to do it but he pulled her close and breathed her in and kissed this beautiful woman who he loved with everything he had because when he finally came clean tomorrow and told her about Shane and the baby, he was sure he would lose her forever.

* * *

When Nick awoke the next morning Jess was already up and showered and sipping tea from her favorite ballerina mug with half of a grapefruit resting in a bowl before her while she sat at the island in the kitchen. Winston was still sleeping and Schmidt was at the gym. Jess had been engrossed in whatever she'd been reading on her phone so she jumped a little when Nick slid his hand around her waste and kissed her shoulder. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said when he noticed her startled response to his touch.

"No, it's fine, I'm sorry I just didn't hear you get up and I was reading this short horror story that one of my former student's e-mailed me for my opinion. It's actually really suspenseful." She chuckled and smiled at him adoringly.

Knowing he couldn't wait any longer, he decided to bite the bullet. "Hey listen do you have a minute, I..." he was dreading this but he couldn't _not _tell her what was happening. "Some stuff happened yesterday and I really gotta talk to you about it."

"Sure," she said, a little worried at how serious he was for only having just woken up. "Is everything ok?"

"Actually Jess it isn't." He replied sitting down next to her. "I haven't told you this because I figured it was _my _problem and I'd just deal with it but Shane's been giving me a really hard time at the bar ever since... well, ever since I..."

"Ever since you ended things with _her_ and ran after _me_ that night?" She finished the sentence to help him get to the point.

"Yeah." He said, dreading what he had to say next. "Anyway, I figured it would blow over eventually ya know... but then yesterday she... she told me she's..." he couldn't say it. He was frozen looking into Jess's blue eyes and he could not bring himself to tell his amazing girlfriend that another woman was going to have his child.

"She's what Nick?" Jess demanded, "Is she threatening your job now? Don't tell me she's trying to fire you or something crazy like that."

"No Jess... she's," he swallowed hard, "she said she's pregnant." He closed his eyes unable to look at her at that moment and see the shock, betrayal and pain his words would no doubt inflict. "And she says it's mine." He winced.

Jess froze unsure she'd just heard what she thought she just heard. "Pregnant?" She said in a stunned little voice. "Shane's pregnant with... she's having _your_ baby?" She felt sick. "But you said you were only with her one time!" A horrified expression crossed her face, "Oh my god, you didn't use any-"

He cut her off, "Of course I used protection. But sometimes it doesn't work."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Jess said, stepping off the stool next to him and backing away.

"Jessica, please. I'm just as shocked about this as you are but I don't wanna lose you, can we please talk about this?" He was desperate, pleading and terrified that she wouldn't be able to deal with this and that it would push her over the edge and out of his life for once and for all.

"How do you even know it's yours?" She asked. "I mean how well did you even know her before you two..." she stopped herself, not wanting to think of Nick with another woman.

"I don't know Jess... she just told me yesterday and she said it was mine... I haven't had a chance to... I'm still trying to wrap my head around this ya know?" He said running his fingers through his hair and scratching the back of his head.

"Well do you believe her?" Jess asked.

He sighed and took a deep breath, "All I know is she won't drink, and trust me... she _likes_ to drink. Any time some good looking guys come into the bar she does at least two or three shots of whiskey with them... and she says she took three tests and that they were all positive so I don't know... I'm definitely gonna ask for a blood test but I just... I had to tell you." He looked at her, hoping desperately that she wouldn't bail on him even though things had just gotten incredibly complicated. "Please tell me what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking..." She took a deep breath and exhaled it in a giant huff, "I'm thinking I need air." She started walking away from him.

He panicked and followed her, "Jess wait! Please don't go! I know this is huge and god... trust me I don't like it any more than you do but I don't wanna lose you. Please don't leave."

"I have to Nick... I've gotta pick up Cece from the airport... and I need some time to think." She reached for the door to the loft, "We'll talk later." And with that Jess was gone.


	17. Chapter 17

_Thank you to everyone who's stuck with (or recently discovered and followed/favorited) my story... as you know this is my first fanfic attempt ever and you've all been super supportive and I really appreciate it. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. XOXO roomfriends :)_

* * *

**Chapter 17**

Cece had agreed to do a last minute photo shoot in New York because she was desperate to get away after the nightmare that was her would-be wedding. She hoped it would take her mind off the fact that Schmidt hadn't made a decision yet about whether or not he was choosing her or Elizabeth. Figuring it wasn't worth pushing him even more, she'd let him think she believed that he'd made up his mind and just needed time to let Elizabeth down gently but it was pretty obvious that he was using this as a ploy to buy more time. He'd been adamant about not kissing or touching her until he'd spoken to Elizabeth which didn't make sense to Cece, especially if they wanted to be together. They were adults after all and frankly, nothing had ever keep Schmidt from making a move on her in the past so she knew something was up. Normally she was really good at acting like nothing phased her but the truth was she was freaking out thinking of all the times he had tried to win her back and how she'd kept him at an arms length over and over and now that she was finally ready to admit what she really wanted, there was a strong chance she had lost him to another woman. And the worst part was that she wasn't just some random girl who Schmidt might realize wasn't worth his time, it was his first freaking love! She looked at the clock and saw that her flight had landed about ten minutes earlier than expected so she decided to kill a few minutes by walking through the mini book store that the airport had among it's other gift shops and snack stations. She browsed the latest magazines and best selling fiction hardcovers and as she rounded the isle, she come across a small shelf with literary classics like _Little Women, Romeo & Juliet, The Odyssey_ and... "Seriously?" she muttered to herself as she saw the title of the last book on the shelf, _White Fang_. Huffing out an exasperated breath she rolled her eyes and stormed away from the book, down the isle and out of the store. Clearly everything was going to make her think of Schmidt, especially now that she was back in L.A. so she reached in her bag pulling out her phone, "This is ridiculous," she said to herself as she scrolled to his name and made the call, "screw it," she whispered as the line rang.

* * *

Schmidt was finishing up his spin class, racing away on his stationary bike while trying not to think about Cece and failing miserably. He'd finished wiping down the bike and decided to stay for a zumba class hoping its fast pace would provide the distraction he so desperately wanted but his hopes were dashed when the instructor's third song began to play, it was a dance remix of his favorite Pussycat Dolls song a pop-dance version of _Jai Ho_ from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack that he'd once made Cece's ringtone. The poignant lyrics seemed to taunt him, "You are my destiny, Jai Ho! No there is nothing that can stop us, Jai Ho! Nothing can ever come between us..." it was just his luck. Suddenly Cece was invading his mind again but this time everything hit him at once. Thoughts about her smile, her cleavage, her hair, the sway of her hips, her heavenly curry scented brown skin... and that's when he noticed the screen of his cell phone light up in his gym bag across the room. No longer seeing the point in trying to focus on the instructor's steps, he crossed the room, picked up his bag and made his way to the locker room but as he reached for his phone and looked at his caller I.D. he froze. Unable to hide his unease he answered, "Hello Cecelia."

"Hi." She said, her heart skipping a beat just at the sound of his voice, "So umm... I'm back from my shoot. I just landed."

He smiled... loving that she'd called him so quickly, the idea that he'd been on her mind made him happier than he could say, "Welcome home."

"Thanks." She said and after a small pause she added, "I missed you."

He closed his eyes so relieved that she'd said that, "I missed you too. A lot." He replied as he sat on the dark wooden bench in front of the gray locker where he'd stored his shower caddy and toiletries. "Are you busy tonight?" He asked, "I'd really like to see you." he added hoping he didn't sound too eager.

She covered the speaker on her phone and let out a tiny squeak of excitement, then smiling she inhaled deeply and tried to play it cool as she replied with a nonchalant, "Sure. Tonight works. How about six?"

"Sex would, err," he cleared his throat in an unconvincing attempt to correct his mortifying slip of the tongue, "I mean six... would be great."

She covered her mouth to keep him from hearing her chuckle a little. Then she saw a text from Jess pop up on her phone that said, _I'm at the passenger pick-up come out when you're ready. _"Ok," she said, "I gotta run, Jess just got here to pick me up so... I'll see you later."

* * *

Tossing her carry-on suitcase into Jess's backseat, Cece jumped into the car thanking her best and most reliable friend for picking her up, "You're a lifesaver Jess thank you so much for..." she stopped talking as soon as she saw the look on Jess's face. She looked pale and troubled in a way that made Cece really worried. "Jess is everything ok? You don't look so good."

Finally being in the company of the one person she'd always turned to when life got hard, Jess broke down right there in the middle of the chaos that was the airport's pick-up area and told Cece everything she'd missed since she'd left for New York. How amazing things with Nick had been, how he'd actually confessed that he was in love with her and how everything was being threatened now because of Shane.

"I need you to breathe babe," Cece said in a soothing voice as she rubbed Jess on the back.

Jess complied, taking a big hiccupy breath as she turned her pink nose and watery eyes up to look at her best friend. "I don't know what to do Cece. I _love_ him... I'm finally happy. Why is this happening? It's not fair!"

Cece's heart was aching for her friend, Jess had been through enough these past two years. First Spencer's infidelity and now Jess finally lands a good guy like Nick who really loves her and some skank he had a one night stand with is dropping this bombshell. Then something clicked. "Hey Jess," Cece began, "You said Nick dumped _her_ for _you_ right?"

"Yeah." Jess answered matter-of-factly.

"And she started being extra bitchy to him at the bar as soon as she found out that you two were together?"

Nodding Jess replied, "According to Bonnie, Shane's been horrible to Nick ever since your wedding when things between me & him got serious. Why?" Jess asked, wondering where Cece was going with this.

"Look I'm a model Jess, we meet celebrities and wealthy successful men all the time. I've seen a lot of girls do some _pretty_ unscrupulous things when they wanna trap themselves a rich husband." Cece reached for her phone and started scrolling through the names in her contacts list, stopping on a name Jess didn't recognize before adding, "But I've also seen them stoop pretty low to hurt an ex who's moved on, and I don't trust this bitch." With that Jess could see that Cece had dialed her phone. Smirking at Jess, she put her finger up to signal that Jess should keep quiet for a moment.

"What're you doing?" Jess whispered.

Cece covered the speaker on her phone and whispered a hasty reply, "Let's just say having a best friend who has access to people of questionable character on speed dial, is about to pay off."

At that Jess's eyes grew wide, not knowing what exactly was happening, then she heard a man's deep voice answer on the other line and Cece began speaking. "Victor hi, it's Cecelia," Her voice was serious yet seductive, whoever this was didn't stand a chance, nobody did when Cece turned on the charm. "Do you remember that time in St. Barth's when you said that I should call you directly if I ever _really_ needed something?" She smiled at Jess and gave her a wink, "Well I have a favor to ask..."


	18. Chapter 18

_Thank you all so much for sticking with my story... I'm working on where I want it to go & I have a million ideas but I wanted to give you a little something since it's been a few days since I last posted. I'll admit writing this chapter killed me but it felt like a very honest/realistic reaction for Nick to have given everything that's happened so far... I hope you agree. Review and let me know what you think. _

_XOXO,_

_CC aka Not-A-Mer-Gentleman_

* * *

**Chapter 18**

Checking the mail that afternoon, Nick noticed a cream colored envelope addressed in a rich black calligraphy to Nicholas Miller & Guest. He'd been wondering when his brother Jamie would be sending out his wedding invitations and here it was in his hand. It seems like ages ago when after their father's funeral, Jamie had come up to Nick and asked him when he planned on getting married. Nick smiled to himself as he remembered how he'd instantly looked at Jess at that moment. How for the briefest instant, he'd pictured what it would be like to be getting married himself. To her. He envisioned himself kneeling before her and asking her to be his always. And he got goosebumps just imagining what it would be like to be the man watching her walk down the isle in a white dress towards him.

It was in that flash of a daydream that it really hit Nick how much Jess meant to him. They could never go back to mere friendship. Although he valued her friendship like never before, he just couldn't deny that there was so much more between them and the love he felt for her was so different than the love he had for Caroline. Caroline who he really had thought was the love of his life was little more than a memory now. Jessica Day knew him in a way that no other girl ever had, there was a trust between them and a passion that was undeniable. The combination of everything he felt for her surpassed anything he'd ever experienced. She was amazing, being around her was exhilarating... this woman brought him to life and his life was just better with her in it. And somehow she felt the same way and that made him so incredibly happy, but _what if_? Those were the two words that always seemed to creep into his head like a poison. What if this thing with Shane turned out to be too hard? What if the love between him and Jess wasn't strong enough to get past this? What if? What if? What if?

He plopped himself down in his normal spot on the cool brown leather couch in the empty loft and sat in silence, looking down at the invitation as the insecurity and fear crept into his thoughts. Even without the added stress of Shane's pregnancy looming overhead, the thought of his brother getting married would've had him panicking. Jess was his girlfriend, naturally she would be his date to the wedding but this of course brought to mind the _first _time Jamie gotmarried and how Caroline was his date to _that_ wedding. That was the first time she'd ever dumped him. At his own brother's wedding, and to add insult to injury she'd done it about five minutes before he was supposed to give his best man speech. Naturally he'd been blindsided. He'd loved Caroline, she was his first love in fact and he had really thought things between them were going well so he was completely devastated when she'd ended things so abruptly. There he was, crushed and alone, feeling like an unloveable loser while surrounded by his whole family who were expecting him to give a speech about love and commitment. A speech that he was in no mental state to give... and even though the logical part of his brain knew that Jess was nothing like Caroline and this wedding would be nothing like Jamie's first, the whole idea of bringing another woman he loved to another family wedding had him freaking out. That was the think about weddings though, they make couples think about their futures and right now Nick's future had a two brand new permanent fixtures, his ex-fling and their child.

Nick had done a good job of keeping it together around Jess the past week. He'd broken the news to her about six days ago and she seemed determined to put his mind at ease that she wasn't going anywhere. She knew they couldn't predict the future and that things were complicated and that they were only going to get harder in the months to come but she loved him and what they had was worth fighting for. It both filled his heart and broke it at the same time to hear say those things. Jess was the one for him and in a perfect world she'd be the mother of his first child. It would be _their_ child but life wasn't perfect and these were the cards they were dealt.

There was a melancholy sort of elephant in the room the past week between he and Jess. Like they were counting down to some cataclysmic event that was about to rip them apart. They were sweeter to each other than they'd ever been, their kisses were less passionate and more tender, as if each one could be their last. And even though Nick knew it would kill him if one of those kisses _was_ their last, he would take. He would take every minute, every second he could with her and he would treasure the memory of his time with Jess... of what it was like to really love someone even if you were never meant to keep them. And with that sad thought, sitting alone in his dimly lit living room, Nick Miller broke down in tears.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Victor had been in New York on business and was due back in L.A. five days from when Cece had first called him so the timing was perfect. He was known in certain circles for his remarkable ability to access information on people. Nobody could hide a skeleton in their closet if Victor was checking on them. If there was something to find, he'd find it every time... there were no exceptions. It was for that very reason that he had so many high profile clients all over the world requesting background checks both officially and unofficially from him and they all paid top dollar for his services.

Cece however, was making use of Victor's talents for free on account of his general fondness for her. She'd been a good friend of his niece Nadia for years and had always been a little protective of Cece. It didn't hurt that she was beautiful and feisty and it amused him to flirt with her despite their fifteen year age difference and the fact that he was spoken for. For Cece's purposes an unofficial check on Shane was in order. After all, when you're hired to illegally hack into people's personal information, discretion is of the utmost importance and Victor was the best at what he did so what Cece had asked of him was essentially child's play. He'd assured her that he would e-mail her the results of his inquiry into Shane by tomorrow afternoon but tonight Cece was working on her own little investigation and since Shane had no idea who Cece was, she was confident that things would go exactly the way she wanted them to.

* * *

It was about ten o'clock when Cece strolled into Clyde's Bar for the first time since Jess had told her everything. It had taken a few days to sort out a fool proof plan so she could find out once and for all whether or not this Shane chick was for real or just a manipulative bitch who was screwing with the wrong girl's relationship. At the end of the day, Jess was Cece's oldest and best friend in the whole world so nobody was gonna mess with her, not when Cece was around.

Deciding to go all out on this little mission, Cece had a full entourage with her as she arrived at the bar. About nine people altogether. Five of her female model friends, Nadia, Sophia, Valentina, Chloe, and Noelle and four of her agency's new male models Ivan, Dimitri, Anton and Luka. The boys were all from Russia and the customs of Americans still confused them but since most male models aren't known for their brains, their mountainous muscles and striking good looks had been all they needed to get them off to a great start in L.A.. They'd even recently booked a series of body building supplement ads and gym advertisement campaigns but none of that mattered tonight. What mattered was that with their towering heights, muscle definition and chiseled features, nobody... least of all Shane would ever have suspected that they were only seventeen. Seventeen and in a bar that Shane was managing, and that was just the way Cece wanted it.

* * *

It was a pretty slow night at Clyde's which suited Cece just fine, the fewer people in the bar, the less distracted Shane would be from the hulking male specimens she had so generously provided... and since Cece had subtly mentioned that female bartenders loved being flirted with, the boys were very fixated on Shane and flattery it would seem, would get them everywhere.

By one in the morning, Cece had managed to get picture after picture on her phone, and all of them included an unsuspecting Shane. Shane beaming as she grabbed Ivan's bulging biceps. Shane lifting Dimitri's shirt while stroking his six-pack abs. Shane sitting on the bar, surrounded by the boys as she took a shamelessly pathetic selfie picture of herself making a duck face with them. But the best pictures were a series of five group shots, each from a different angle and each showing Shane as clear as day, doing different shots at the bar with these underaged boys and then making out with not one but two of them.

"Gotcha!" Cece said as she snapped away and immediately e-mailed the pictures to Victor. "Ya haven't been drinking for weeks because you're pregnant huh Shane? Can't wait to see how you talk your way out of this." She muttered under her breath.

Just then her phone rang. Looking down she saw that Victor was calling her so she answered, "Hey, did you get the pictures I just sent you?" She asked, curious as to whether or not he was calling about them.

"I did." He said simply then added, "But I came across something that will be very useful for you, it seems our little friend Shane saw her lady doctor three weeks ago for her annual visit."

"Aaand?" Cece asked, desperate to know what was in her medical records but also worried that he was about to confirm that she was in fact pregnant. "What did you find Victor?"

"Well, her doctor documented that Shane's last period was the week prior to her visit and the standard urine analysis that their office does prior to every exam was negative for pregnancy..."

"That's great!" Cece said knowing that Nick's hadn't been with Shane after her last period so if she _was_ pregnant, it couldn't possibly be his.

"That's not all," Victor added. "It seems that she's been receiving birth control shots every three months for the past four years and she received her last injection one month prior to her latest visit."

"So there's no way she's pregnant..." Cece was elated. "Thank you Victor, I owe you! Dinner next week?"

"I'd be a fool to refuse an offer like that from such a beauty." He replied.

Smiling, she said, "Well you deserve it, this is going to mean the world to Jess."

"Oh," Victor asked, "is that your little friend who looks like the monkey in the cracker commercials? Nadia told me she sang_ Ochi Chyornye_ to her when she was homesick last summer."

"I forgot about that, that's right... she did do that." Cece said, remembering how surprised she was that Jess knew an old Russian song but even more surprised that Victor had heard about Jess singing it to Nadia.

"That's my mama's favorite song, it's very special to my family." Victor said with a hint of sentimentality in his voice. "She's a nice girl your friend?" He asked curiously.

"She's the best person I know." Cece said matter-of-factly.

"Tell you what," He said, "I'm gonna do a little something special just for her."

"What's that?" Cece asked.

Victor chuckled on the other line before replying, "I'm gonna make a phone call."

* * *

The next morning Nick & Jess awoke to the sound of Nick's cell phone ringing. It was an unexpected call from the owner of the bar, Clyde Morgan. Mr. Morgan it seems had received a rather unsettling call and subsequent e-mail full of pictures of Shane serving alcohol to minors and even drinking with them the night prior. In addition to those pictures, there'd been a series that suggested that she had also been engaging in inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature with these young boys. Mr. Morgan advised Nick that he was not willing to lose his bar over this and that he was taking the matter very seriously and would be advising Shane that her services as manager of his establishment were no longer necessary. He then proceeded to offer Nick the job of manager for the next few months to see if the position suited him since he'd been such a good employee for years and Mr. Morgan knew he could count on him. With a tiny bit of anxiety over the added responsibility, Nick accepted the job offer and told Mr. Morgan he'd meet him at the bar later that afternoon to talk about everything in person.

When Nick had answered his call, Jess decided it would be a good time to step out and make herself a cup of tea. To her surprise she received a call from Cece about a minute later. She had excitedly told her the news about Shane and even forwarded her the e-mail with all the pictures from the night before.

As Nick approached Jess in the kitchen, they each stared up at each other with looks of shock and happiness on their faces but neither knew why the other looked so stunned.

"That was Cece," Jess said breaking the silence.

"That was Clyde," Nick replied.

"She sent me these," Jess handed her phone to Nick with the e-mailed pictures up on her screen. "she had one of her shady friends run a check on Shane and..."

"The anonymous call and e-mail." Nick muttered.

"What?" Jess asked, a look of confusion crossing her face.

"Clyde got a call and an e-mail from an anonymous person with these pictures of Shane drinking and making out with minors. He's firing her today because of it... and he just offered me her job. I'm gonna manage the bar Jess."

"That's great, Nick!" Jess said enthusiastically. "I know you can do this, I'm so proud of you." She added, smiling sweetly at him, her eyes glassing over and her nose turning pink as the reality of what Cece told her sunk in.

"Jess are you ok? You look like you're gonna cry." Nick asked, worrying why she'd gone from happy to looking so sad so quickly.

"I'm more than ok Nick," she replied... "I'm just relieved."

"Relieved?" Nick asked, slightly confused by her inexplicable relief.

"Because Nick," she began, stepping closer to him and looked up at his face, "Cece's guy hacked Shane's medical records... she's not pregnant. She had her period three weeks ago and she's been on birth control for years! She was lying the whole time!"

Shocked at the lengths their friend had gone to Nick replied, "Remind me not to piss off Cece, she's got some seriously shady connections..." he added and a split second later his eyebrows shot up as he realized what this all really meant. "Wait a second, did you just say... Shane isn't... and now I'm... are you serious?" He asked incredulously before a huge smile crept across his face and he quickly scooped Jess into his arms while holding the back of her neck firmly and dipping her into an intense kiss.

A flood of thoughts swam through his head in that moment, their nightmare was over. Shane was about to be nothing more than a bad memory. He and Jess were together, and he'd even just gotten a promotion. "I think this calls for a celebration!" He said holding Jess who was dazed from his kisses tightly to him.

"Are pants required for this celebration?" Jess asked playfully as she tugged her short pink robe back in place once Nick had set her upright again.

"I don't know Nurse Day, I'm experiencing a multitude of symptoms. I may require a check up before any real celebration can take place. You know, just as a precaution." He added.

Her eyes grew wide and she giggled quickly taking him by the hand as she ran toward her room and pulled him inside, shutting the door swiftly behind them, "Now where did I put that stethoscope?" She said aloud.

"I think I saw it by the air conditioner but..." He began as she spotted it and snatched it up before she lunged for him, pulling his shirt off and reaching out to place the metal piece to his chest, "Jess it was cold last time and it was JUST near the AC, could you maybe warm it before you..." it was too late, she'd already pressed the frosty metal to his skin, "AHHH it's freezing! That is cold!" He said as she laughed and they got swept up in each other the rest of the morning forgetting the entire nightmare that was the last week with Shane. Instead focusing on the celebration at hand, which was the best kind of celebration... the no pants kind.


End file.
